Jose Quintana In Ideal Position To Help Cubs End This Ugly Streak

The Sunday of June 4th was a nice one for the Chicago Cubs. The weather was good and so was the baseball. It genuinely felt like the team was heading in the right direction. After all they’d just polished off their rival St. Louis Cardinals 7-6, resulting in their third-straight victory and a clean sweep of the series. Sadly the accomplishment went to waste as the team reverted back to its rollercoaster ways. It seems almost too perfect that the much-anticipated Jose Quintana Cubs debut is staring at a similar scenario.

Here the team is again. Another beautiful Sunday and another chance to sweep an important series. The Cubs are coming out of the All-Star break and know they have to stay hot if they want to stay in the playoff picture. They sit 5.5 games back of Milwaukee and need every win they can muster. Getting their first series sweep in 42 days would be a huge boost.

Quintana being the man on the mound to make it happen seems so fitting.

Jose Quintana Cubs debut can alter course of the season

After a difficult start to the season, Quintana has really rounded into form since the beginning of June. In that time he’s pitched six games, gone 5-1 and delivered an earned run average of 2.00. The Cubs can feel secure in this knowledge as well. When the White Sox scored at least four runs in a game this year, they were 9-2 with Quintana on the mound. To date the Cubs are averaging 4.64 runs scored per game.

This game is hugely important for the north siders. They have the Atlanta Braves up next, followed by the Cardinals and then the crosstown series with the White Sox. A sweep over the Orioles could give them the jump start necessary to make a run through that winnable stretch against three struggling teams. All of whom have losing records at the moment.

It’s exactly why Quintana was brought in. To get them that elusive sweep victory that has become such a hard thing to accomplish in 2017. They’ve only done it twice. Before people say that’s not too bad, remember the 2016 Cubs did it eight times by this point last year.